Originally from the United States, Carolyn came to Australia in 1994 after living in Japan for four years. Her AB (magna cum laude) from Harvard College is in social anthropology, and her PhD in cultural anthropology is from Columbia University.

During her postgraduate career, she received a Japan Foundation Fellowship to study at the Inter-University Center for the Study of Japanese in Yokohama, Japan. Before coming to Australia, Prof. Stevens taught and conducted research at Jochi (Sophia) and Obirin Universities in Tokyo. More recently, she has had visiting research and teaching positions with the University of Tokyo (Faculty of International and Public Health), Meiji Gakuin University (Faculty of International Studies and PRIME) and the National University of Singapore. She is currently a visiting overseas research team member at the International Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken, 2017 ~ ).

Carolyn was appointed Professor of Japanese Studies and the Director of the Japanese Studies Centre in 2012.